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Unfortunately, I do not get around to managing this blog as well as my Afrikaans one. Should you be able to understand Afrikaans, have a look at this article (click on the underlined words) and the printables page. Further printables and resources could be found here. It includes posters, worksheets and flash cards (English phonics, sight words, tricky blends, various maths sheets…).

It is summer in South Africa and we are halfway through the first month of the warm season. We experience summer in different ways, but two stand out. The areas to the north (Gauteng) receive a lot of rain during summer, whereas the Western Cape experiences warm, sunny days.

Herewith a couple of ideas to celebrate summer…

Make sun masks by painting a paper plate bright yellow. Add rays to the edge of the plate in various shades of orange and yellow. Always mix your powder paint until it has a thick, creamy consistency. When the plate is dry, you could add a handle and a face. Cut the eyes out and there you have a mask. If you don’t want to cut the eyes out, you could paint both sides and use the sun as a fan.

Make summer sandals: Buy cheap rubber sandals and bright beads or buttons. Stick these beads or buttons in a pattern (explain what a pattern is) and there you have your own designer shoes! You don’t always need to buy your craft material. If you’ve had a birthday party, you could tie burst balloons around the straps. What about all those ribbons that were used on the Christmas wrappings?

Those who live closer to the beach or who have collected shells during their holidays, can make ornaments or wreaths. Paint or spray the wreath in one colour (such as white). Use a lovely ribbon to hang it on your bedroom door.

Have a pirate party at the beach…and make a huge mural afterwards. Divide the class into groups to paint the background and to make the buckets (tear and paste) and spades. You could go as far as to sprinkle sand onto the beach area and to add cotton wool clouds to the sky.

Make a sea mural: Prepare large sheets of news or computer paper for the back drop by using different shades of blue (watery) paint. Give the children sponges with big holes to dry sponge the sheets. Make sure that the sponges are relatively dry and that they press lightly (more like a dab).

Add fish by having the children paint the soles of their feet in different colours. Step on a piece of paper, cut the dried prints out, add eyes and fins and there you have some fish. You could add starch or wall paper glue to the paint and have the children “draw” patterns in the wet paint before stepping on the paper. This should give the impression of scales….

Make jelly fish from old sponges and string (wool) to add to the sea…

Use broken sea and egg shells to sprinkle on the sea bottom. If you’d like, you could divide these onto several containers filled with food colouring. Dry the shells on sheets of news paper before sprinkling it on the sea bottom.

You could use the sea mural idea to make a summer mural on fabric – using fabric paint.

Paint flower pots for the windowsill. Choose a theme, picture, pattern or poem to decorate the pots with.

Have a baking day. Bake cupcakes and design summer collars for them. This should make a lovely and personal gift for someone special.

You could even make sunglasses from these muffin collars by sticking them onto party masks.

Make your own beach-in-a-box. This should keep the kids busy for a while…

Understanding and developing a sense of left and right is a struggle for many children. When they struggle to discern between the two sides of the bodies, they also tend to have trouble distinguishing between visual symbols such as b / d and p / q. A first step at helping them is to put visual reminders up against the wall.

Print the right hand on red paper and place it in the right-hand corner of the writing board. All the “r”-sounds should help to remember the association of right hand with red. The left hand can be printed on yellow or a colour like light green. These colours and visual prompts can be repeated on a smaller scale on the desks. It can be laminated or simply covered in a colourless, see-through sticky tape (cellotape). Also add the hand with the L near it to show that when you hold your left hand up, it actually forms a capital L in the web space between the thumb and forefinger. If the child is right handed, you can play on alliteration: “You write with your right hand.”

Pages to hand out, to put up against the wall or to stick on desks (resize :wink:)…

Upon reading the wonderful tweets of teachers worldwide, I’ve decided to write some thoughts in English. Social networks such as twitter is a great way to meet teachers in various countries and to talk about education. So many of these teacher’s have their own blogs and mention issues that are very relevant in my own country. So here is my first try at an English blog at the dawn of a brand new year. Thank you for reading ;o)